INS Kohassa is an Indian naval air station under the

Andaman and Nicobar Command The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) is the first and only Joint warfare, tri-service Theater (warfare), theater command of the Indian Armed Forces, based at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory of India. It was cre ...

of the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

. It is located at

Shibpur Shibpur or Sibpur is a neighbourhood in Howrah city of Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is well known for being the location of the ...

, a village located on

North Andaman Island North Andaman Island is the northern island of Great Andaman of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the North and Middle Andaman district, North and Middle Andaman administrative Districts of India, district, part of the Indian union territory o ...

History

INS Kohassa was established as Naval Air Station (NAS) Shibpur in 2001 as a Forward Operating Air Base (FOAB) for enhanced surveillance in North Andaman. Presently,

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

aircraft and

HAL Chetak HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bangalore, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...

helicopters of the navy and the

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. The Indian Coast Guard was formally esta ...

land at Shibpur once in a week, on their transit for surveillance of

s. In addition, the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

operates its Dornier aircraft between

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South An ...

and

Diglipur Diglipur (sometimes spelled Diglipore) is the largest town of North Andaman Island, in the Andaman Archipelago, India. It is located on the southern side of Aerial Bay, at above sea level, north of Port Blair. It is crossed by the Kalpong Ri ...

every Thursday for courier duties. In 2009, the government of India accorded sanction to commission NAS Shibpur as a full-fledged air station. The length of the runway is being extended to 12,000 ft and will enable day and night operations. Dornier 228s of the navy and coast guard conducted search for

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned destination ...

from this base. In 2017, it was reported that the runway length would be extended to 3000m after acquisition of about 100 hectares of land. This will enable the operation of wide-bodied civil and defense flights. The station, earlier known as NAS Shibpur, was renamed as INS Kohassa after the extension of facilities in January 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:INS Baaz Kohassa Buildings and structures in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Airports in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

History

See also

References